The Celebration of the Year

On 30th August Mum and Dad had a big celebration for their respective belated 60th birthdays and a forty minus one for their ruby wedding next year.  All of the family came over which was really lovely! We got to met baby Derek and also hear that Joel and Jessica are expecting a baby (20 week scan in October shows its a girl) in early March.  Mum had wanted a little concert and so we all were given assignments to perform.  Uncle Sid cooked melt-in-the-mouth beef sandwiches ( we had the leftovers for sinner on Sunday) and a selection of decadent desserts. It was a wonderful event and we are glad to be part of this family!

Jessica made the decorations based on the J.B. Priestly play When We Are Married.

Joel and Jess sang "People will say we're in love" from Oklahoma.

Cheeky Alice!

Dad spinning some yarn about a famous guitar!

Gorgeous Mumma!

Auntie Adrienne sang.

So did the Rosedale Ladies Choir (reformed for one act only!)

and Auntie Jean!

John Hunwick recited a poem!

Cute Derek!

Chbbley gorgeous Cecily!

Cheeky Benjamin!

Battle Of Flowers 2013

There seem to be festivals happening most months in Jersey. The Battle Of Flowers is held on the second Thursday in August with a daytime parade on the Thursday and a moonlight parade on the Friday evening followed by a fireworks show from Elizabeth Castle. The festival consists of music, funfairs, dancers, majorettes and a parade of flower floats alongside various street entertainers. By way of an historical introduction the BOF was inaugurated in 1902 to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII. The major floats are usually produced by the parishes of Jersey.The 'Battle' itself originally consisted of dismantling the floats to provide floral ammunition for a literal battle of flowers between participants and spectators in which the ladies battle it out for a gentleman of their choice, but this aspect has long been abandoned. The event was inspired by the flower carnival of Nice, and was such a success that it became a regular event. The First World War interrupted the tradition and it was not until 1928 that the Battle was revived. The threat of war meant the 1939 event was abandoned and it was not until 1951 that the event was revived once again and has been an annual feature in the Jersey calendar. Here are some, well many, photographs of the event.

For those photographically inclined these were shot at F1.4 with my 50mm plus some additional light from my eternal flash gun, aka my least favourite conditions. My photographs really do not do the spectacular floats justice but I hope you can get a flavour of what the festival is about!

Here are some photographs. For the rest please check out this link!